Interviewer: Preetam Prakash

Affiliation: University of Houston

I had interviewed Mr. Zirlott’s parents for the oral history project a few months prior and they had mentioned that they had two sons involved in the shrimping and fishing industry whom I might try to interview as well. I actually happened to arrive at Mr. Zirlott’s house by accident, while I was searching for an oyster processing plant. Mr. Zirlott and I had spoken for a while on this occasion about the current state of the fishing industry in the area after the oil spill, as well as some of the history of this industry in the area. I had asked Mr. Zirlott if he might be willing to do an oral history interview at some point and he had said that he was planning on heading up to central AL to go hunting for a few weeks but that I could contact him in February. I got a hold of Mr. Zirlott a few weeks later and we agreed to meet at his house.

Mr. Zirlott was born and raised in the Coden area. He had worked with his parents in the seafood industry while he was growing up and had decided at an early point in his life that this was how he wanted to make his living. He had quit school and gone to work as a fisherman in his mid-teens and did not regret having done so. Mr. Zirlott described himself as being among the few people in the area who focused almost entirely on commercial fishing, and said that he had been attracted by the particular challenges presented by fishing relative to shrimping, crabbing, or other pursuits. Mr. Zirlott said that while fishing had been relatively less impacted by imports and falling prices, increased regulations had played a major role in affecting his ability to make a living. Mr. Zirlott was confident about the Gulf’s ability to recover in the aftermath of the oil spill and believed that the greatest damage to the seafood industry after the oil spill had come from the negative media attention that was focused on the area.